


How Can it be Raining at a Time Like This?

by Unfried_Mouth_Wheat



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Gen, HIYA THERE FETCH, Heavy Angst, Y'all will frickin hurt that I will make sure of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:47:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27378193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unfried_Mouth_Wheat/pseuds/Unfried_Mouth_Wheat
Summary: Jet sees a familiar, and unwelcome, face
Relationships: Iroh & Jet (Avatar), Jet & Longshot & Smellerbee & Zuko, Jet & Longshot (Avatar), Jet & Smellerbee (Avatar), Jet & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 34





	How Can it be Raining at a Time Like This?

**Author's Note:**

> This was spawned from the thing that said there was a possibility that Iroh could have been the one to burn Jet's village in the drafts and a contest. Deal with it

The air was chill. Too much so to be pleasant yet not chill enough to complain about. What a rotten temperature. 

Holding on to the rail was keeping him grounded. It would be incredibly easy to get lost in his thoughts. Scarily easy, even. That was never good. Jet had worked hard and long to be able to live, think, and breathe in the moment. Thinking too long meant thinking about how he'd changed. Thinking too long meant thinking about what he had done because of how he'd changed. He gripped the rail tighter.

That was all well and good but even now he could feel the memory of what he saw creeping up on him and seeping into even the most guarded parts of his mind. It wasn't even a memory, it was a constant presence. 

He was on the ferry with him.

Almost instantly Jet's knees gave out beneath him as he started to sob. Why? Why him? Why now? It started to drizzle.

He wanted a new start, a do over, yet it seemed like very universe was conspiring against him. What had he done to deserve this, this, this torture? No, wait, no one answer that, he didn't want to know. He couldn't have what he'd done be shoved into his face again. He placed a hand against his mouth as more tears flowed out his eyes.

It had been years since he had last seen that face, last seen those eyes. Eight years, to be precise. Those eyes which held nothing now feigned innocence. He knew what that looked like, he had done the same for so many years because of him.

Because of him. 

Jet had blamed so many people in his life for why everything was messed up, but this man was the only one he truly believed. If not for him, Jet wouldn't be so utterly devastated. Nowhere was safe. Not even the great walls of Ba Sing Se would be able to keep out the Fire Nation if this was how they were getting in. His stomach twisted into a thousand knots as he tried to keep in the stolen meal he had just eaten. The meal he had just eaten with a Fire Bender.

Li had to have been a Fire Bender too. They had the same eyes. The same Spirits damned eyes. He felt helpless. He hated being helpless. He wasn't an eight year old anymore. He had taken down so many soldiers, hundreds he was willing to bet. His hands were calloused from gripping his swords to tight. He had swords, damn it! He knew he could at least attempt to fight the man, but every time Jet thought about him being on the same ferry him, he felt even sicker.

He was going to die, wasn't he? The man would realize who he was sooner or later, right? They had looked each other dead in the eyes all those years ago. All the others who had escaped were killed off swiftly. He was the one that got away. Surely the man would finish the job, right?

Another thought entered his mind, and it made him feel even sicker. What if he didn't remember? What if he didn't care to remember the face of an eight year old boy who's life he ruined? Who's family he killed? 

He was shaking. Of course it had to be him. Of course he had to be on Jet's ferry. Of course. Of course.

He didn't have anywhere to run this time. He had no where to hide, and he couldn't fight. He looked out to the dark waters that lay just beyond the rails of the ship. He hated large bodies of water, yet in this moment it seemed like the safest option. But he couldn't swim. Oh, damn it all, he couldn't swim!

Everything, everyone, every single part of the universe was against him.

Smellerbee and Longshot were asleep. He had tried to tell them, but words never formed all the way and all they could understand was he was crying. Considering how strong a bond he had with Longshot, that said something. He wrapped his arms around himself.

Oma and Shu, were they gonna hurt Longshot and 'Bee? His breathing sped up. What could he do? 

Why was he so useless? This was finally his moment to take revenge, to fulfill what he said he would, but now that he was faced with the man he just couldn't. He tugged at his hair, wanting to scream. He couldn't save his family before and he couldn't save them now. He slid to the floor, holding his knee's to his chest. He had to do something. He had to. To sit here and do nothing would be to die, and he had no intentions of doing that anytime soon.

He got to his feet in a shaky manner. His breathing was out of control. He had to do this, he just had to. He couldn't let him take anymore lives. He couldn't let him take his family again.

He grabbed one of his swords as he moved slowly to the lower deck. The rain worsened, the droplets hitting the ferry sounded like pounding, or was that his heart beat? He was soaking wet when he made it to where everyone was sleeping. The man was laying near the entrance, Li lying next to him. His grip on the sword handle tightened, his hands cold. He unhooked only one of them from their place on his hip. He only needed one fore this.

He clutched the shaft of his sword, body trembling. He had attacked soldiers before. He had attempted to drown a village before, damn it. He should have been able to do this quickly, yet he had never done anything this personal before. This intimate.

He fell to his knees, gasping for breath as he raised the blade above the man's throat. He closed his eyes as he brought it down. The death was silent, yet Jet still had blood on him. He released the handle and looked down at his hands. They were shaking in an almost unbelievable manner.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of movement. He looked over to where he thought the sound was coming from. What he saw was Li, sitting up. 

"Uncle?" He asked as a strike of lighting split through the sky, and lit up what Jet had just done.


End file.
